A change in paradigm: Giving back identity to donors in the anatomy laboratory

Abstract

This article describes a paradigm of teaching in the anatomy laboratory where students interact with the families of the deceased persons whom they are dissecting. This approach focuses learning anatomy and medicine on the patient via the implementation of five guiding principles: the First Patient; Knowledge; Reflection and Reflective Practice; Treating the Total Patient; and Professionalism. Physician training typically begins with cadaveric dissection (i.e., dissection of the first patient), and therefore the medical school gross anatomy course provides an ideal environment for multifaceted educational experiences where cadaveric dissection is used to teach structure and function as well as the skills and competencies critical to patient care. Here, these principles are described, and the impact on student doctors and outcomes discussed. The results suggest that mastery of basic science knowledge and competencies, including professionalism, compassion, and leadership skill is enhanced by this protocol. Clin. Anat. 26:161-172, 2013. V V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Survey of body donation programs in the US concerning the use of donor personal information with medical students

“…The authors feel that the requirements of the current healthcare environment must be addressed by the training that medical students receive. Giving medical students donor personal information can help to teach appropriate conduct concerning sensitive, private, protected information, while knowledge of donor personal information can also help to cultivate empathy in students (Bohl et al, 2011;Gest et al, 2003;Granger et al 2004;Talarico, 2013;Williams et al, 2013;Jones and King, 2017). Rather than the body donor serving merely as an inanimate object of study, donor personal information imbues the body with a living context as well as a clinical context, and may transform the donor body into the patient they were before death.…”

“…Beyond simply serving as an educational resource that can help to provide foundational knowledge of human anatomy, body donors have the potential to offer additional learning opportunities, such as the clinical relevance of anatomy or consideration of the ethical treatment of the dead (Bohl et al, 2013;Cahill and Ettarh, 2008;Winkelmann, 2016). The reaction of medical students to their body donor, which is often emotionally charged and handled in various ways by students, has been wellexplored (Talarico, 2013;Tseng and Lin, 2016). The experience that medical students have with their body donor can be used to help students realize increased empathy and gain greater insight into the patient experience (Bohl et al, 2011;Gest et al, 2003;Williams et al, 2013;Jones and King, 2017).…”

Attitudes of medical and allied medical students from Serbia toward whole body donation

“…The former attitude appears to have been traditionally encouraged in medical schools as the main coping mechanism under the notion of "detached concern" (CURLIN, 2011). However, anatomy education has undergone significant changes in recent decades in an attempt to imbue the discipline and the way it is taught with humanistic values (DYER, THORNDIKE, 2000;TALARICO, 2013;. This new approach tends to favor the treatment of cadavers as exhibited by the second group of students.…”

Introduction

“…The discipline of anatomy has become more humane, inspired by constant reference to the humanities, which form the axis of reflective practice. The change of attitudes towards cadavers and human tissue in modern anatomy is so dramatic that it is sometimes referred to as cultural (Dyer and Thorndike, 2000) or a paradigm change (Talarico, 2013). Although at varying rates in different countries and teaching traditions, anatomy is now eminently emerging as a deeply transformed discipline, as a new, humanistic anatomy (Štrkalj, 2014).…”